BIBLE BY PHONEI am working on a new project where I will be teaching Bible by phone each week. Consider joining to receive short messages straight from the Bible. My plan is to open the phone lines afterwards for a question and answer period. Finally hear God's word and have it come alive for you as well as hear others who share the same concerns as you do. Faith comes by 'hearing' and hearing by the Word of God. I will give out the times, dates, phone and pin number so please check back. You may leave your email in the 'Contact' page if you'd like to receive a notice of the Bible By Phone meetings. Get on God’s Nerves and Watch Him Answer You

When you were younger did you ever want something so bad that you pestered your parents, your sibling, your teacher or whoever had the authority to give you the request? I have. I’ve wanted certain prayers answered so bad that I deliberately exhausted many avenues searching to get the answer and then I proceeded to implement whatever I could, one by one, to escort the answer in.

Have you ever wanted to just give up because though you prayed and prayed the answer just didn’t seem to materialize? In Luke Chapter 18 Jesus told his disciples there is a way to get prayers answered. It tells about a widow woman who went before a judge frequently and every time she approached him she asked the very same request. “Avenge me of my adversary” she said.

This judge was described as a man who was not only godless, but who also had great contempt for everyone. Yet in spite of these obstacles, this little woman persisted in coming before him time after time with the same request, “Avenge me of my adversary.” The judge tried to ignore her and her request. Eventually time after time seeing this same woman and hearing her repeated request, he said to himself, “I don’t fear God and neither do I fear man, but this woman bothers me. I’m going to see that she gets justice, for she is wearing me out with her constant coming!”

Now here is a great point that Jesus was trying to make. If an evil judge can be worn down like that, how much more will a righteous God pay attention to someone who keeps after him to answer a request? Then, Jesus gives the answer by saying, “God will surely give justice to his people who plead with him day and night.”

I picked up five points to consider here and glean from this illustration. If you’ve been praying for something and you haven’t seen results yet, run these five points by your situation and see if you’ve covered your bases as this widow woman did.

· Has your prayer before God been continual and persistent? Not a casual, quick request in passing, but one of a humble spirit, not prideful or irritated because you’ve had to come over and over wondering if God is ignoring you?· Are you justified with your request? Does it line up with scripture or contradict God’s word? The widow woman’s request, the Bible says, was justified. It said she wanted justice against a man who had harmed her in some way. So it was a request that God could agree with and honor.· Does your request require you doing anything yourself to help bring it to pass? This widow woman put legs to her request by going to the court room personally and confronting the judge. She did not just sit at home and write a letter or send a message. Can you do anything personally to bring about the results? We need to be open to doing ‘our part’ in any matter. God will do His part, so be a good listener so you’ll know if there is something you need to do. · Will you let opposition stop you? This woman had one huge strike against her going in. She was not approaching a Godly judge. She confronted a judge who the Bible described as godless and who carried contempt for everyone.

Often times when you are praying for an answer and the answer is not coming speedily, you are up against unseen forces. Your opposition needs to be discerned and uncovered. This is done in the spirit realm by asking God to show you what it is that’s holding your answer up. If he shows you a strong hold of some sort, he will then instruct you how to bring that strong hold down in order for the answer to come. So you need to learn how to press in to God and at the same time learn how to fight the unseen enemy who could be holding your answer back. This is done through many different ways, such as binding and loosing, praising God in worship, song and speaking the relevant scriptures out-loud in faith. (The devil hates this one, but God really responds)

· When you’ve done all you can, remember just stand in faith and wait on God to perform it. Many times the answer hasn’t come because God is moving the circumstances around and he’s dealing with people who may be in the way and holding matters up. Sometimes God is waiting until someone wears down, like the judge, so you can get the favor you desire.

Prayer and extracting answers to prayer is a learning process. It’s not instant, it’s not; “Here’s my prayer, God, where’s my answer?” If that were so, then why didn’t God force the judge the very first time the widow appeared in court to just give her the justice she came for? Answer, he couldn’t. He would be violating the judge’s will. God in his fairness gives all of us our own will, the righteous as well as the wicked.

Just like the man who harmed the widow woman in the first place. Why didn’t God stop him, why didn’t he intercede and prevent him from hurting the woman to begin with? Because he would be violating his own word if he did. God is just. He allows the sun to shine on both good and bad. The rain falls on the wicked farmer’s crops as well as the godly farmer’s crops.

Remember in Daniel Chapter 10 where it tells how Daniel was before the Lord in prayer for three weeks straight? So, here he was seeking God for his people and after 21 days he began to see a vision of certain events that were going to happen. So why the 21 days? The Bible tells us in verse 12 that a man appeared to him and said, “Your request has been heard in heaven and was answered the very first day you began to fast and pray before the Lord for understanding; that very day I was sent here to meet you.”

Then he explains to Daniel how for 21 days an evil spirit who over-rules the kingdom of Persia blocked his way and the angel Michael came to help him break through the spirit rulers of Persia. Let’s not forget how God has warned us that there is the prince and power of the air that is still able to walk to and fro as well as move through the atmosphere.

If there are ruling powers who tried to stop Daniel’s prayers from getting through and getting answered, why wouldn’t we also have to persist in our prayers to get our answers through to us also? When did these spirit rulers die? Spirits don’t die, they only move to the next victim to discourage them from believing that God has heard their prayers. That’s why Jesus said at the end of this illustration, “When I return how many will I find who have faith and are praying?”

Sweet friend, let me assure you the words and power of the Bible are still the same today as yesterday. God hasn’t changed, nor his promises and plans. Don’t you give up praying. Be like the widow woman in Luke and get on God’s nerves, he won’t mind. Don’t you know he’s already sent a messenger to answer you? Your prayers are important to God and your answer is in the making.

Often times we must learn to ‘listen’ after we pray. God wants to show us what ‘our part’ is, if any. You see there’s God’s part and there’s our part. Be careful not to get in God’s way and do ‘his part.’ That’s where discernment and waiting on God after we pray comes in handy. I sometimes would put too many legs to my prayers and then I’d thwart the answer and hold it from coming because I was trying to be ‘God’s little helper’ in escorting the answer; my way and in my time.

Go over the five key points herein and see if your request has lined up with all five considerations. If so, just keep on praying and standing on God’s word that he has heard you and thank Him that the answer is on its way. Praise is your key weapon. Keep your joy, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Do we look for placement, honor, wealth, kudos and not realize it? Do we secretly put ourselves on or seek after an invisible throne? If so, what are we really after & do others notice this and what does God think of our self-exalting behavior? This video is not a guilt trip but an eye opener so we understand ourselves better and the God who created us. We do have honor, placement, even rewards but we must understand the principles of how these things are set up to work. This video message addresses just that.